Taboo
by Silentgal
Summary: Years have passed since the incidents in Monsters Inc, and Mary has grown into a confident, outspoken thirteen-year-old. Still visited by Sulley and Mike, and neighbours with monster spy, Tessa, she loves her life. But something is stirring in Monstropolis and she and the rest of the motley gang may just be the only people capable of stopping an interspecies war.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Birthday**

Today was Mary's thirteenth birthday. The sun was shining, a couple of ravens scrapped and crawked over who knows what, and Mary was standing on the lawn in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, faux leather holdall over her shoulder, feet wet from the sprinklers.

"Can I just go see Tessa first?" she begged her parents. "She might have something for me and I won't see her again for ages!"

"Oh all right," her mother sighed. "But be quick; we can't miss the flight."

Mary's birthday was right in the middle of summer vacation and so her parent's had decided that a great birthday present would be to go visit cold, wet London for the week, and watch Les Mis at Queens Theatre.

She ran across the empty road to Tessa's house and rang the doorbell. Tessa opened the door almost immediately, she must have been waiting.

To look at her, there was nothing especially unusual about Tessa. She was a tall, slim women in her late twenties. Not overly chatty, but not painfully quiet either. Foundation spread on a little thickly, perhaps, but that wasn't that unusual. You'd never guess she wasn't human.

Of course, that was the point of it all. Foundation and gloves to cover her blue skin, leg braces over her tentacles to help her walk like a human, bangs to cover her third eye. As a spy for Monstropolis, Tessa couldn't be discovered.

"Boo, how lovely to see you before you go! Happy birthday and come in, I have something for you."

Mary followed Tessa into the house. The wallpaper looked a little shabbier, the carpet worn down, but apart from that, it looked pretty much the same as when Tessa had moved in, almost seven years before. Tessa hadn't done any redecorating since then.

"Now where did I put it... Aha!" Tessa handed Mary a small box. "Open it."

Inside was a little silver owl pendant, shaped like a rounded tear-drop. Black stones – obsidian? – glinted in its eyes.

"Oh, it's beautiful..." she murmured. She looked up at Tessa. Thank-you so much!"

Tessa smiled. "It's the symbol of Athena, goddess of wisdom in battle. I got it to remind you to think before you do things."

Mary gasped in mock outrage, then laughed. Outside she heard a car horn. "That'll be my parents, gotta go. Bye!" Tessa laughed as she sprinted to the car. She liked Mary, she really did. She was the only human she could trust.

###

Hurtling back across the road, she practically swung into the car.

"You took your time." her father grumbled as he reversed out of the driveway.

Mary shrugged. "It didn't take that long."

"If we miss the flight it's your fault."

"Whatever."

"Don't 'whatever' _me_, miss."

"'S_my_ birthday."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait, but my teachers dumped a literal ton of homework on my head, and then I had to stamina build for my cornet exam, and ****_then_****I was ill... But I'm fine now, soooooo...**

**Roll on chapter 2!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**London**

"Oh that looks _lovely _on you!"

Mary sighed, amused. "That's what you've said to every single thing I've tried on."

They were shopping in London, and Mary thought her mother was enjoying this rather too much, cooing and squealing at everything she tried on. She shot her mother a look. "Are you actually _trying _to embarrass me?"

Her mother smirked. "Yes."

"Well, at least I've got _that _cleared up now." Mary flicked her fringe out her face.

Right now, she was wearing a knee-length navy Ralph Lauren trench coat with pink skinny jeans and lime green Doc Martens.

"We should _so_ buy them!"

"No."

"But-"

_"__No!"_

"Fine." Her mother pursed her lips. "_I_ still think the outfit suits you."

"Well I don't."

"Okay, get changed again then. Where to next?"

"Jack Wills?"

"Hmmmm..."

"Please?"

"Fine."

_###_

Mary flopped onto the hotel bed feeling thoroughly exhausted. She wasn't much of a shopper, and the day had taken a lot out of her. She closed her eyes, and just then her phone buzzed.

_Hey Boo, done your music practice yet?You packed _

_your instrument for a reason, you know..._

_-Tess_

Mary sighed. As her music teacher, Tessa could be relentlessly persistent. Ah well, she'd do it later.

_###_

Two minutes and sixteen texts later, Mary was off the bed and unpacking her piccolo trumpet. Tessa always won, somehow. As she assembled her music stand, her mother came into the room.

"Don't forget to put your practice mute in; we don't want people complaining." she said.

Mary nodded, bunging the mute in the end of her instrument, a silver Yamaha YTR-6810S. She loved her instrument, she really did, she always polished it and took care not to drop it, but she didn't see why she had to practice every day. One thing that Tessa always said was, "Every day you don't practice, your playing goes back two days." but Mary had never found that true. When she practised, sometimes her playing excelled, others it got worse. Same when she didn't: sometimes the break was good. _Stupid teachers over-analysing everything!_

_###_

The rest of the week passed in a blur of shopping and sightseeing, until the evening of the last day. Mary and her parents stumbled out of the theatre, yawning. Les Mis had been great, and yet Mary was so tired. The family leisurely made their way to the tube station, taking in the last they would see of this place. They were nearly at the station when Mary realised something was wrong. Someone, no _something _was following them. She wasn't sure what, but it wasn't human.

Ever since the traumatic kidnapping when she was much younger, Mary had developed a sixth sense about people watching and following her, and she wasn't sure, but this _thing_ seemed familiar somehow. Not good familiar, but the familiar of a long-forgotten nightmare. She felt her heart thud wildly as her pulse sped up. _Keep calm, _she told herself. _You don't know for sure it's anything._ But somehow, she did. Something was following her and her parents and it wasn't human and she didn't know what, although she found she did have an inkling. But she didn't want to think about that.

She forced herself to stay calm. It wouldn't attack in public, not with so may people around, unless it was who she thought it was, and then he could attack sneakily, so she would have to stay on her guard. She stuck close to her parents; it wouldn't dare attack if the two humans who cared the most for her safety were watching her.

When they got on the train, the presence got on the train with them, watching from above. By the time they'd got back to the hotel, Mary's nerves were well and truly frazzled. As soon as she got into her room, she dumped her bag on the bed and pulled out her spray bottle. Too bad she'd had to leave her spray paint at home – aerosols weren't allowed on planes – but coloured water spray would have to do.

She spun round and pumped the trigger for all it was worth at the presence, outlining it in pale pink water droplets. Her blood went cold.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuun! Who do you think it is? Review! I feel lonely... How about the person to type the tenth review gets digital cookies. See? You just made me resort to bribery!;_; But seriously, reviews make me happy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I've finished chapter 3! Don't expect updates this frequent normally. The cookie offer's still going, though...****But read on, this is the chapter where things start happening!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Randall**

_(She spun round and pumped the trigger for all it was worth at the presence, outlining it in pale pink water droplets. Her blood went cold.)_ Her heart went crazy, hammering desperately against her ribcage. In one swift movement, she pulled her new rounders bat from her bag and got into a defensive pose, back to the wall. She never took her eyes off the gecko-like lizard in front of her.

"Hello Randall." she whispered, not trusting herself to talk normally. The purple lizard didn't bother to reply as he lunged for the bat in her hand. She swung, and it connected with his shoulder with a satisfying crack, sending him flying backwards. "What do you want?" she hissed, sidestepping to the window.

Randall finally seemed to recover his voice. "I don't want a fight."

"I'm sure you don't."

"I'm only here to observe! You think I'd _want_ to get any closer to you than necessary?"

"What if I don't want you to?"

Randall answered that by lunging again. Her bat smashed into his ribs. "Stay away from me!" she screamed. Her mother banged on the door. "Are you okay, Mary?" she called, sounding concerned. Randall, who had shaken the droplets off by then, vanished.

Mary, cursing, forced a cheery note into her voice as she called, "Yeah, I'm fine, just, um, singing!"

"Really?" her mother peeked into the room. "Well, just try to keep the noise down, okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

"And move away from the window, I don't want you falling out."

Mary rolled her eyes. "I'm not three!"

"Mary Gibbs, you will do as you're told!"

Mary sighed and stepped reluctantly away from the open window. Immediately, she felt a rush of air and she knew Randall was gone. Her mother nodded, satisfied, and left. Her phone buzzed.

_Is it too late to tell you to do your music practise?_

_-Tess_

Grabbing the phone with shaking hands, she typed:

_Yeah, it's way too late! And anyway, I have more _

_important news: Randall was here! In London! He's_

_following me!_

_-Boo_

Then she flopped down on her bed, shaking.

_###_

Tessa heard the phone vibrate against her dressing table where she'd put it down seconds before. She picked it up and unlocked it, before reading the text. Her mood dropped. Randall? In the human world? What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in prison! Since he'd been banished, he had snuck back into Monstropolis and got himself arrested, but apparently he'd escaped.

Following Boo? That wasn't good news either. Tessa was employed to make sure that Boo had no more dealings with monsters, and though she always made an exception for Mike and Sulley, this was different. Her occupation was being threatened. She had to do something! She texted back:

_You're coming back tomorrow, right? If he follows you_

_onto the plane, come over to mine as soon as you get _

_back. No, screw that, come over anyway._

_-Tess_

She hit send.

_###_

Randall did follow Mary onto the plane. She spent the entire journey in a state of high agitation, jumping at the slightest noise. Her parents kept glancing over, concerned, and a well-meaning women asked her if she wanted a sleeping pill. She politely declined, and her parents gave the unfortunate female strange looks.

By the time the plane touched down, Mary was twitching with paranoia. By the time she was in the car, she was exhausted, the panicky adrenaline wearing off. Despite all intentions, she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She woke up as the car pulled into the driveway hours later.

"Can I see Tessa now?" she asked. "She told me to visit her as soon as we got back."

Her father sighed. "It's late. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"Tessa did say to see her as soon as we got back..."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Oh go on then, but be quick about it."

"Thanks!" Mary sprinted across the road, dodged a car, and was at Tessa's house even as her parents and the driver yelled at her. Tessa opened the door almost immediately, and Mary stumbled inside. Tessa closed the door.

"Boo! Are you okay?"

Mary nodded. " 'M alive, at least." She gave a shaky laugh. "I'm probably overreacting."

Tessa shook her head. "You were right to tell me, this is exactly the sort of thing that concerns me. It's a massive security breach and I have no idea how they've managed to mess up this bad."

"Who's 'they'?"

"The MSSS, the Monstropolis security and secrecy service. Off-branches include the CDA, the MSS, and the HAS. The MSS, the Monster Secret Service, are the guys I work for. This shambles is probably the fault of the CDD, the Criminal Disciplinary Department, for not putting enough investment into prisons, and the HAS, Human Avoidance Scheme, for not putting enough importance on security around portals to this world."

"Are you sure it's shambles?"

"Oh, yes, definitely." They moved into the kitchen. "Cocoa?"

"Yes please. How is it shambles? Just a little security breach, surely?"

"_Randall _is a minor security breach, but what him escaping _represents_, is the shambles."

"Oh, right." A brief pause, then, "And what is that, exactly?"

"Just how easy it is for criminals to break out of prison, escape to this world and reconnect with each other. Gather together in groups to do whatever for X reason and not realising that they are putting the entire monster population at risk!" Tessa said, placing a steaming mug down in front of Mary.

"But criminals get banished, don't they?"

"Only for serious crimes, and to mostly unpopulated areas. Banishment is for when the crime is so bad that they can't be kept in Monstropolis any more, and then measures have to be taken to ensure that they stay away from humans. If it was so easy, that would be where most criminals _would_ be sent. But it isn't."

"Oh."

"Exactly."

"But what about me? What am _I_ supposed to do? How do we stop Randall following me?"

"And here we come to the main question. Sorting out the bigger things is my betters' responsibility, whereas Randall and how he concerns you is mine. The question is, is he still following you, or has he followed you enough? It could be that he was just using you to lead him to other people."

Mary thought for a second. "I didn't think of that. Was there anything I should have done to stop him then?"

"Nothing you could have been expected to do, don't worry." Tessa smiled. "Now finish your drink, your parents will be wondering what's keeping you. Don't worry, I have a plan."

It was only once she left that it occurred to Mary that Tessa probably wasn't actually that calm.


	4. Chapter 4

**I have actually had this chapter finished for a while now, just haven't had the chance to upload it.**

* * *

**The Plan**

2am and Mary was still up, sitting on her bed, infra-red glasses on, just in case, telling Sulley what had happened, and about her talk with Tessa. "Wish I knew what her plan is, though." she said.

"I wish I did, too." Sulley did not sound happy. Not surprising, really, given the circumstances.

"I trust her, though. She's good at what she does. The best."

"She'd better be."

Mary looked up at her old friend. "Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

"Hmmm, not sure about that."

"Really, I'll be fine; Tessa's been teaching me mixed martial arts for the last six months."

"She has?" The blue monster heaved a sigh. "I wish I could get away more often, I seem to be missing out on quite a lot."

"Anyway, my point is I'm perfectly safe."

"I'm not sure six months is long enough-"

"Oh, stop worrying!"

"I wish I could." Sulley frowned.

He sounded tired, and Mary looked at him then, like, really looked at him. He looked worn out, and she could see he was getting old. She had known he wasn't as young as he used to be, but it hadn't sunk in before.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sulley had noticed her staring.

"You look old."

He chuckled. "I'm not young any more, no, but I'm not as old as all that."

Mary scrunched up her nose. "You look old to _me_."

"That's because you're young. I was as young as you are once, would you believe it? And what's with the goggles?"

"Infra-red. These things see heat instead of light. This particular pair aren't that good, no zoom function or automatic focus, – Tessa's got better ones – but these are more portable and way more stylish; the other ones are so chunky!"

"Oh, I see. Forgive me if I still don't get why you're wearing them."

"They render camouflage obsolete." Seeing he still didn't understand, she added, "That means I'll always be able to see Randall."

"Oh."

"There, happy? I'm not being irresponsible after all. I have my reasons!"

Sulley just shook his head, smiling.

_###_

Mary found out what Tessa's plan was the very next morning. She had just finished breakfast and had gone upstairs to brush her teeth when the doorbell rang. Her mother went to answer it.

"Oh, hello Tessa. What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you had any plans for the rest of vacation?"

"As a matter of fact, no. Why?"

"Well, I've set up a summer camp for all the children I teach, and I was wondering if Mary would like to come."

"When does it start?"

"On Monday."

"Sorry if I sound rude, but isn't that a little short notice?"

"Well, it was originally going to be fourteen of the older ones, but one of the girls dropped out," Tessa lied, "And as Mary is the next eldest, I wondered if she would like to join us. It's completely free."

"Oh, in that case..."

Mary stopped listening, concentrating on her teeth. So that was Tessa's plan. Interesting. She wondered if there really were other kids. Probably not.


End file.
